William Halsey Jr.

William "Bull" Halsey Jr. (30 October 1882-16 August 1959) was a Fleet Admiral of the US Navy during World War II, commanding United States naval forces in the South Pacific before taking command of the US Third Fleet in 1943.

Biography
William Halsey Jr. was born on 30 October 1882 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, a descendant of New York senator Rufus King. Halsey studied medicine at the University of Virginia before entering the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland in the fall of 1900. He graduated on 2 February 1904, and he rose through the ranks during peacetime. In 1938, he was promoted to Rear Admiral from Captain, and his battle fleet was moved to Hawaii. He led all of the ships at sea at the time of the Attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, fearing that Wake Island would be the target of the Imperial Japanese Navy's attack. He led hit-and-run carrier raids against Japan, and his slogan "Hit hard, hit fast, hit often" became a byword for the US Navy. Halsey led the navy during its campaigns in the Solomon Islands and the South Pacific, and he was given command of the US Third Fleet in 1943, overseeing more island-hopping campaigns before fighting at the decisive Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944. He led the fleet until the end of the war, with Third Fleet aircraft bombing Tokyo, the naval base at Kure, the island of Hokkaido, and the bombardment of several coastal cities in preparation for an invasion of Japan.